Gallery List

I was tasked by Airchive.com to provide some secondary coverage of the Boeing 787-9 first flight. It was my first opporrunity to cover a Boeing event from the press area. After a few minor delays, the 787-9 took to the air as planned and made a 5 hour flight without event and touched down at the flight testing center at Boeing Field.

Along with my son and good hiking friend Trent, we set off to Artists' Point near Mount Baker for an overnight hike to Ptarmigan Ridge. The USFS service station indicated that there was snow on the trail and route finding required and they were right. Though only about 10% of the trail was snow-covered, the spots that were were usually deep and fairly steep. The views began immediately and only got better as we progressed.

A March 7 X5-class flare delivered a glancing blow to our ionosphere and led to over 24 hours of auroral activity. I headed south to avoid the clouds over Seattle and ended up near Black Diamond and captured the dim, but active display.

The aurora, as visible from our area, rarely get the waving and curling arms you see in photos from Norway and the Yukon, but we do get to see the full extent of the rays, from the green base to the violet and red tops.

I was able to cover the Boeing 747-8 VIP delivery press conference and fly away on behalf of NYCAviation.com this week. This was technically the first Intercontinental passenger version delivered, but it is the VIP version rather than the true passenger version which will be delivered to Lufthansa later this month.

Having a job with a a lot of flexibility has its benefits! I was asked to cover the Korean Air Cargo "double delivery" ceremony at the Future of Flight Museum on behalf of NYCAviation.com. My first media gig!

A sudden, and very strong coronal mass ejection (CME) slammed into the Earth's magnetosphere on Monday unleashing northern lights that were visible as far south as ALABAMA, an incredible storm to be sure. The storm was still active by the time the sun set here in Washington, however, the clear skies of the early evening were fully overcast by the time it was dark. Grr. You can almost count on that kind of thing around here. I kept an eye on the Kp indexes, which were still at 7, which meant it was still visible up there on top of the clouds.

This spring, I entered the annual lottery for permits to hike the Enchantments area of the Apline Lakes District of the central Cascades. The Enchantments is an alpine valley that contains a chain of beautiful lakes nestled in jagged granite pinnacles. Its relative proximity to Leavenworth meant that it was in danger of over-use so they implemented a permit system to restrict access.